Plateau for 3 months

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2aycocks
2aycocks Posts: 415 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Did I spell that right? Plateau? Anyway, I have been at a weight loss stand still since before Christmas. I joined MFP last April and com'pletely changed my eating and lifestyle. I am 57, female, 5'8", weigh 175 pounds. I do have physical limitations due to Rheumatoid arthritis and Lupus. I have lost 20 pounds this year and it has been HARD WON!! I have gone down in a whole size in clothes. YEA!

MFP has me set at 1300 calories a day. I mostly stay within that and when I do go over, it's not by much. I stick to foods that are as fresh as possible, such as fresh veggies and fruit, fish, turkey, chicken. I do drink a Protein drink, Dymatize with Silk 60 calorie, at least 4-5 times a week. I do strength training at a gym 2 times a week and do cardio about 3 times a week. I can't do nearly as much cardio as I need to because of physical problems. But I keep doing what I can.

I am open to suggestions. Thanks!!
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Replies

  • deeoakes
    deeoakes Posts: 3 Member
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    Try Carb cycling.... I was at a plateau as well and am starting to loss weight again. Check out Chris Powells "choose, me choose life book. Its great! and you get cheat days as well.
  • AmyZ46
    AmyZ46 Posts: 694 Member
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    I have only lost 10 lbs since Christmas and 67 lbs in 6 months before that ....So I get it that you don't know what to do or what's causing it .

    For me I know I used to hit it in the gym so much harder - I am actually doing the same work outs but it is really easy now and I'm just lazy about it I think . I know that I burn less calories than I did before I lost the weight . Also I am eating the same way( still not weighing my food ) I did when I started this journey so I know I need to change something there . Try evaluating what's really going on and if you are not like me --slacking at this point then it's something else . I just know that since I got below 200 it is so much harder to lose .

    Good luck and I hope you figure this out soon .

    You can also look up some good info in the Eat ,Train ,Progress feeds...


    Amy
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
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    Are you using a food scale to weigh your portions? Your diary is closed so it's hard to give feedback.
  • mdoyle28
    mdoyle28 Posts: 62 Member
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    I hit a 4 month plateau and it was very frustrating. I got out of it by pushing harder. That's what I would recommend if you are indeed eating right. Remember the closer you get to your goal or ideal weight the harder it is to lose lbs. Also remember to not only focus on numbers on scale because its not really the best tool all the time, focus on inches and how your clothes fit. I am 5'8 and started at 187, plateaued at 155 for 4 months I am now 145-147 but it was the hardest 10lbs to lose. Switch up routines also try different things and try to be more intense while still not affecting the health things you have that are causing restrictions. Best of luck and keep us posted on what you did that works:)
  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
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    Try recalulating your BMR and TDEE. You have to re-create your calorie deficiency
  • dixiewhiskey
    dixiewhiskey Posts: 3,333 Member
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    Eat more... You are not eating enough for someone of your stats.
  • aqualeo1
    aqualeo1 Posts: 331 Member
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    Eat less or exercise more. You aren't in a deficit if you aren't losing any weight. Really crack down on your logging. Make sure to use a food scale. It's really easy to overestimate your intake.
  • Crucifry
    Crucifry Posts: 30 Member
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    Eat more... You are not eating enough for someone of your stats.

    This. Eat More.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    Are you using a food scale to weigh your portions? Your diary is closed so it's hard to give feedback.

    This. Make sure your calories are accurate by weighing all your foods. Log consistently everyday, etc.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    For 3 months... you're eating too much. Weigh and log everything.
  • 2aycocks
    2aycocks Posts: 415 Member
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    Well let's see. There are 3 "eat More's" and 3 "eat Less" votes. Which shows the reason for my confusion. I've gone to other sites on the internet to see how many calories I should eat in order to lose 1 pound per week, using the same stats. I've gotten everything from 2000 to 1000, and everything in between.

    No, I don't weigh my food. I think that would drive me stark raving mad. But a cup of something is a cup of something. I don't usually use ounces to measure. Now on the water issue, it asks us for cups per day. How many cups are we supposed to drink? How do you figure that? Or should be go by ounces on that?
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
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    No, I don't weigh my food.

    Bam!

    Question answered.
  • will2lose72
    will2lose72 Posts: 128 Member
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    But a cup of something is a cup of something.

    This video might help some: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY&feature=youtu.be
  • 2aycocks
    2aycocks Posts: 415 Member
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    Bam??? Can you expound on that please? If I measure a cup of cereal, do I still need to weigh it? Meat I can understand. Do I need to weigh eggs?

    I realize in order to get the exact amount right on some things, you may need to weigh it. But the way I was doing it before helped me to lose 20 pounds. Why would the same way not be working now? Inquiring minds want to know.
  • EvelynR1967
    EvelynR1967 Posts: 78 Member
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    Thank you for sharing your post! I too have been stuck for several months now. I like the.. push yourself harder!!!!
  • Breizier
    Breizier Posts: 221 Member
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    Just try eating 100 cals pre day more for 1 week.

    My stats are similar to yours except I am heavier. I used a website to accurately calculate my calories. I lost weight steadily and easily on 2300 per day and I am sedentary. But we are all brainwashed into thinking must eat less so I got cold feer and switched to the generic MFP recommended 1200 cals per day. After the initial l couple of weeks loss a 2 month devastating demotivating plateau followed. Back to delving deep into MFP and doing more research. I wasnt eating enough. I slowly increased my calories and immediately started losing again.

    think of it this way, even if you are feeding a fire but you dont feed it enough it dies down and goes out.

    the other thing to remember is that as you lose weight you need fewer calories to maintain your bulk so you have to reduce the number of calories you take in. On 1300 calories what have you got to reduce?

    And seriously do you want to spend all yout time working out more and more to try and force your body to let go of fat that it is desperate to cling onto because you have starved it into a stubborn refusal to get lean? I am a similar age to you time is too short to spend hours each and every day pushing water up hill.
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
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    If you aren't losing, you are eating at maintenance. Very rarely is the answer to eat more. Eat 200 cal less for a couple weeks and reassess.
  • dixiewhiskey
    dixiewhiskey Posts: 3,333 Member
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    OK look you need to eat more. Get the food scale first and whatever measuring items you need. Log for a day... If you are under 1500 still then you aren't eating enough. Trust me on this, when I was 178lbs I was eating at least 1700 a day.....
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    Yes, even for a cup of cereal, you should weigh it.

    Without weighing your food, you're not getting an accurate calorie count at all. Measuring your food in cups is unfortunately very inaccurate. That's why we say to weigh your food, in grams.

    If you're not weighing your food, regardless of what food it is, you are probably eating more than you think you are.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think
  • elyelyse
    elyelyse Posts: 1,454 Member
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    Bam??? Can you expound on that please? If I measure a cup of cereal, do I still need to weigh it? Meat I can understand. Do I need to weigh eggs?

    I realize in order to get the exact amount right on some things, you may need to weigh it. But the way I was doing it before helped me to lose 20 pounds. Why would the same way not be working now? Inquiring minds want to know.
    Especially cereal! OMG, seriously, try it: measure out a serving...then weigh it. Unfortunately, you'll see that what gets measured as one serving often comes out to weight a lot more than one serving. Rice, pasta, granola, chips and pretzels, that kinda thing should definitely be weighed. I'd say pretty much all carbs. Even the pita bread I like to eat says 60 calories per pita...but when I weigh one, it's about 10 grams more than the package says it is.
    Eggs I don't weigh. They may vary by a couple grams but the caloric difference isn't very significant. You may chose not to weigh some veggies, but if it's the starchy higher calorie kind (potatoes, for example) definitely weigh.

    As for why it worked before but might not now...as you get closer to your goal weight, there's less wiggle room because your body requires fewer calories to function. (Good question though).

    Of course, if you weigh everything ands till don't see change for a few weeks...then you'll need to reassess what's going on.

    ETA: weigh fruits too, especially certain kinds like apples and bananas. Holy crap, when I weighed what I thought was a "small" apple and saw that the weight and calories were that of a large apple...that really opened my eyes. Berries you can get away with not weighing bc they are so low calorie, but you might want to weigh everything at first, to get an idea of what you need to be more careful with.

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